Temperature-driven pumping of fluid through single-walled carbon nanotubes.

We describe a methodology for the continuous pumping of fluid, in this case decane, through carbon nanotubes. Fluid is imbibed from a reservoir at 300 K, heated, and subsequently ejected from the hot end. Very high pressures are developed in the smaller nanotubes due to strong capillary forces, suggesting their use as dynamic nanoscale reaction vessels. A theoretic framework is developed allowing us to predict pumping fluxes over a range of nanotube diameters and temperatures.